Florida Healthy Kids

sons health insurance

I have a six year old son who desperately needs medical attention due to various illnesses. I applied for Florida Healthy Kids 4 months ago. I have called them to try to find out the status. Each time I call, a staff member tells me to call back. I can NEVER get a straight answer from these people. Each time I call I get a different story as to why my sons policy is not active. I called six times yesterday, three times my call was dropped having me wait an extra 20 mintes each trying to find the right person to speak with, twice I was told to call back next week, that my sons policy was still updating, once I was told that his insurance was still pending due to non payment!!! This is outrageous! My son is suffering here and Florida Healthy Kids is taking their sweet time about it. I have left a message for supervisors and I still have nothing. I am tired of watching my sons health drop while these people get their act together. Something definitely needs to be done here. People are hurting. The staff of Florida healthy kids are idiots!

Comments

I have had the same problems with them. This has been going on since July two of my children have coverage but the 4yr old doesn't. Trying to get a straight answer is not going to happen. There HAS to be a change because how its going now is NOT working.

having same problem except healthy kids say my kids are active but the insurance company say's they are not active I call heathykids (all day today) to hear a recorded message that the number I have reached is not in services.Something has to change it is not fair for the kids

I have a 9 yr old daughter with Type 1 Diabetes. She needs prescriptions filled monthly. She has been dropped twice now. I have spent countless hours on the phone trying to get this straightened out. It is very hard to get a straight answer and it is very difficult to get a supervisor on the phone. I have actually cried real tears on the phone and that seemed to work. That is when things got done but here I am again this month going through the same BS! It is absolutely ridiculous that last names cannot be provided. The only way to get directly connected to anyone is if you have a last name and NO ONE will provide you with last names. This is what I am going to recommend to all you frustrated Moms out there going through the same thing I am. Call Florida Healthy Kids and demand to speak with a supervisor, if a supervisor is not available DEMAND to be connected with the supervisors voice mail. Once you get through to voice mail the supervisor will state their first and last name write it down!!! Then call this number (sorry but its not an 800 number) 850-201-1111. You will get an automated service and it will say to search for someone by last name type in first 4 letters BAM you get directly through to that persons voice mail. So far I have left 3 messages and have not gotten a return call!! These are our CHILDREN we are talking about here, some with very serious health conditions. Florida has provided a service for our children and they are not following through!!!

Also, same problems. I have two sons, 3 and 1 years old. My first has been with healty kids for the past 2
years. A few months back I attemted to get my second son enrolled in the program. I sent the forms in and
waited a while (because you know it takes forever) and never heard response back, so I decicded to call and see
what the status was of his application. They told me I put on the application that I did not want coverage for him.
Thats rediculous, and not true, I have copies of the application to prove it. Why the hell would I send in an application for insurance for my son if I didnt want it? So I thought I had this straightened out that day on the phone after over a hour, but then things got worse. First son gets sick several days later and goes to the doctor, I find out he has no insurance now. So now I have no insurace for either child. I have spent hours on the phone getting the run around, w/ the same stories Tammy has recieved above. I have also spent over $600 in the past month on doctors visits and prescriptions for both my kids. I have over 180$ credit on my Healty Kids account accrued from paying extra every month for several years, so they cant use late payments as an excuse. I am quite frustrated as the rest of you.

I completely understand your pain dealing with Florida Healthy Kids & Medicaid which are linked! I filed for health insurance for my children on September 1, 2008 & still to this day I have not received their benefits package or cards, however I have been called to setup their peditrician, the monthly payment slips and was directed & paid their premium for their supposed effective date of January 1, 2009 that then turned to February 1, 2009. I too got the complete run around from every rep I spoke with.. I have a 5pg file of dates/times/names & what I was told but what always got me was that every person you talk to there says they cannot see the other persons response or anything?! I have been back & forth with HealthyKids which I filed for first because I knew they were not eligible for Medicaid so for 2mnths they fought amongst themselves as to who was going to cover them & as of December 2008 it was HealthyKids & still nothing?!?!?! It is extremely aggravated when you have done everything but their jobs when it comes to getting health coverage for your kids. I too have filed numerous complaints that as you see got me absolutely no where.. the supervisors are always the person sitting next to the one you last spoke to & demanded a manager.
Good luck to you all as well...

I haven't had any problems with Florida Healthy Kids or MediKids. All you have to do is fill out a 1 page application, which can be faxed to the number listed on the application. Also, if you have problems with callng their customer service PHONE lines, you can e-mail theem at FHKSupportSecure@acs-inc.com

You MUST realize that these people are underpaid, understaffed and overworked due to our economic downturn. And also know you must be your own advocate. The MOST important thing to realize is that you must be paid up 30 days in advance. So if you apply, simply send the payment immediately, that will activate your coverage and you will receive the documents in the mail.

For instance, if you would have made a payment on January 1st of 2009, you would have been effective on February 1st, but would have required another payment by February 1st to be effective for March 1, 2009. Get it? You can't pay for the insurance to make it active and not expect to make another payment by the 1st of the active month. They want to ensure that you are always paying 30 days in advance and that their service is covering you 30 days in arrears. That may be why some of you have experienced 'cancellation' prior to getting to the doctor's office. Good luck!!!

I really have a beef with healthy kids. During the time my son was covered i really had no complaints. I made SURE i paid my premium each month. I was paying 125.00 a month. Fine, they told me thats what i needed to pay, then 7 months into paying 125.00 a month i get a letter saying i only need to pay 20.00 a month. Nothing changed in my household or my income. I called and no one could tell me why my coverage went down. Fine, except i was a little unsure so i paid my next premium at 125.00 just to be sure. Now I have a credit in my account. My son no longer has healthy kids because he turned 19 in oct of 2008. I have been waiting 6 months for my refund of 109.00. Every time i call I get a different answer but yes, they tell me i am owed a 109.00 dollars but cannot give me adate when i will receive it. I cannot believe these people, if you are one day late with your premium you willget cancelled. But i have been waiting 6 months for my refund.

Call your local representative for the Florida Congress. I had huge problems with HealthyKids/Kidcare and my local rep's office jumped right on it AND told me they had numerous complaints about them. I asked how they tolerated having to spend their days going after KidCare and was told the reward was that they haven't had a case yet they weren't able to resolve. These people are your representatives, that's what they are there for-use them!

To OMGSTOPWHINING who wrote... "Well, when you have your hand stretched out for a free/reduced handout, you can't really complain too much. Some of us have to pay full price for health insurance":

You seem to be upset at the same exact, unleveled system as everyone else in this forum (at least up to this point). I understand you may be frustrated, as I am too. However, you submitted that comment as if everyone applying for this reduced cost insurance has done so under the premise of looking for a handout. While some do, it would be farfetched for you to make such a sweeping statement. Have you ever thought that perhaps some posters may have lost their jobs? Or perhaps they are being stripped financially by high medical cost/cost of living and really could not afford what they were paying. The last time I checked the cost of living has increased across the board, while the wage has remained stagnant and suitable. It really surprises me to see this attitude displayed by an human being. To be honest, we have all been recipients of some "handout" at one point or another. Yes- even you. Have you attended a public school? The taxes paid out by the surrounding property owners helped to fund the schooling. Have you every enjoyed the likes of a public library? Park? I'm not here to badger you, I just hope that people will begin to think for themselves, get off of the high horse they've been riding on and realize we - yes, all of us with no regard to race, color, creed, or social status, are in this slowly sinking boat together. It would behoove us all to put our heads together and figure out how to keep if from sinking.

Well all4one, I agree, I did get a little upset at all the negative comments on the board...perhaps because I did work for FHK at one time. No one knows how it is from the employees' point of view. Luckily I was not in customer service so I honestly cannot take any blame for misinformation given, etc. I entered the applications into the system and it is absolutely inbelievable how some of the applicants seem unable to fill one out completely and correctly. They are very self explanatory and very simple yet so many parents fill it out incorrectly, or incompletely, which delays the process as much as anything FHK employees do or do not do. If it asks for a certain document, send it. If it asks for the total number of people in the household, enter it correctly. Everything on the application is there for a reason and has something to do with the eligibility outcome. So many apps come in that made us as employees wonder how on earth a parent could have screwed it up. I know how frustrating it is to deal with a company and get different answers and get the runaround. But the improvements have to start somewhere. When you fill out and application, don't put your county as USA, or Florida; don't enter the total family size incorrectly; don't list a parent on the application if they are not on there when it CLEARLY says on the app IF LIVING IN HOUSEHOLD; same thing with any other household member; and send the correct income documents. It is NOT that hard. It cuts down on the time to process these things if everything is done right to start with.

The correct income documents? What exactly ARE the correct income documents??? I sent a copy of the court child support order to prove child support and was told I hadn't proved child support. I also sent a printout directly from the unemployment office showing weekly amounts of unemployment awarded and was told I hadn't proved unemployment. Please, omgstopwhining, share with us what the CORRECT INCOME DOCUMENTS are!!!

Well in your case, the court order should have sufficed; unless there was some sort of discrepancy with the name, it was entirely too old to use, or something else, then it should have been used. I cannot speak for another employee, but aside from any of those circumstances, I would have used it. As for the unemployment, unless it was shown that you had for certain RECEIVED what was on the printout, and it was not just pending, then that is probably why it was not accepted. FHK does not count income that has not been received yet. They were probably asking for a pay stub. It would go without saying also that the income documents have to be recent; FHK guidelines require within the last 120 days. Income tax returns cannot be married filing jointly UNLESS one parent is a homemaker, it must be individual income documents. Self employment must be a schedule C, NO OTHER form of income tax documents are acceptable for self employment. Pay stubs must be consecutive or at least clearly show how often paid. For future reference, when someone is trying to help you, don't get SNAPPY and bite their head off, sweetie.

Oh, another form of self employment they can use is a 1099; and SSA/SSI income must be the award letter. Copies of the checks or bank statements or a letter from the person that gets it is not acceptable. Same with child support or any other income. You can WRITE and say you get anything, but the proof is in the pudding as they say. People that work there have said many times that a detailed instruction sheet should be included with the apps since so many parents have to have things spelled out for them in order to fill out the application correctly. Guess they never did????

Another huge error that causes delays is people not putting the SSN and birthday for the child. Come on, people. This is how they identify the kids and they have to have that to enroll in any program and the account CANNOT be processed without it. Be smart and put it on there from the start. I used to breathe a huge sigh of relief when I wold get an app with no issues, it was all done right...most people do but there are those that are not done right and they only delay their own children's insurance when that happens.

well i use to wrk for them and to tell u ppl just dont know how to fdo the application we have everything on the application and still u dont send in the right documents it a shame and want to be blameing the csr all they do is gave u the info that in fornt of them they dont process application the other dept does that and they dont recieve no call so parent u want ar application process my advise to u is send in all the document and info correct;y and u will have u app process and wright good

I would like to know if I could call someone at FHK to see if they can disregard my application that I sent in today and then send another one in 6 months due to the fact that I just dropped my children off of my health insurance and I just saw on other websites that it is a 6 month wait if they were dropped off my insurance or do they keep the application on file until after 6 months.

My problem with this program is the actual insurance company my son's healthcare has been farmed out to - United Health Care. I have been dealing with this carrier for approximately 6 months now trying to get a primary care physician in my area who actually takes this insurance. I started out requesting a pediatrician (since my CHILD is a CHILD) - but apparently there are zero to none on the plan in my area, so then I asked for a family practice. They have a ton of these providers listed, but when you call the actual provider they state that they don't take the insurance or they aren't accepting new patients. I have sat on the phone multiple times with United Health Care going one by one on their provider list - ME calling each doctor's office while United Health Care sat on hold so I could find out if the providers accept the United Health Care/Florida Healthy Kids insurance. I ended up with a walk-in clinic doctor as my son's doctor, which was THE LAST thing I wanted for my son, but it's all they could give me, so I agreed out of desperation. THEN when I called the clinic about bringing my son in I was then told they made a mistake and they only take the United Health Care/Medicaid program. I called United Health Care and again went through the providers with them - this time they could only give me providers names that are an hour to 2 1/2 hours away from my home. This doesn't make any sense to me. It's called Florida Healthy KIDS, right? Why can't I get a pediatrician in my area - Or, at the very least, a family doctor within my area? United Health Care has this red-flagged currently and I am waiting to hear back from them. I think it's crazy. My son is genearlly a very healthy kid and I just want my son to have a check up. Last month he did get a pretty nasty stye in his eye, however I was still lacking a primary care to take him to, so I had to take him to an Urgent Care facility. I think this is wrong and the program needs to be reassessed.

Florida KidCare is quick to take your money but not quick to release it back when they owe you a refund. It took about 3 1/2 months and numerous calls just to get $40 back in the mail. The customer service reps all have different stories. They say it has to go to the processing department but "somehow" the message never goes through. It took my husband speaking to a manager/ supervisor to get anywhere and it is hard to get ahold of even them. Many calls "dropped" / disconnected. I was sure to give "bad/ poor reviews" whenever offered to participate in a telephone survey about their (lack of) customer service. And this incident pales in comparison to some of the other stories (very valid) complaints on here...

I didn't work as a CSR, I just worked in the dept. that receives the apps, keys them in, and inputs whatever docs the parent sent with it. I rarely had to call a parent unless there was some info they left off that I needed to get by phone. For the record, PLEASE PUT the child's DOB and social, the child cannot be processed without those. Those are his identifying items and they HAVE to have that to process. Don't put a parent that doesn't live in the home either, it clearly states on the app "If living in the home" beside the parent 2 spot. I am sure that CSR's make errors but trust me, SO do the parents. All it takes is thoroughly reading the app and the instructions and getting it done the first time.